Talking offense

Tuesday is offense day for the media covering UW, which means our weekly visit from offensive coordinator Tim Lappano.
Among the highlights:
— Maybe the most intriguing thing Lappano said was in relation to a question about true freshman quarterback Jake Locker. Lappano raved about Locker’s play and said that he is continuing to get a lot of work running the backup unit against the first-team defense. He then said that Locker and backup quarterback Carl Bonnell do most of that work with Isaiah Stanback getting almost all the reps with the starters.
Asked about Johnny DuRocher, Lappano said, “He’s got to watch right now. We can’t get them all reps.”
That would seem to indicate that Locker has passed DuRocher on the depth chart, though Lappano wouldn’t say that when pressed. “I’m not worrying about who’s number three,” he said.
— Lappano called UCLA a “fast and athletic defense” that will present different problems than Fresno State did last week. The Bulldogs had bigger players up front, a size UCLA won’t be able to match. Because of that difference, Lappano said there isn’t much that Fresno State did to stop UW’s running attack last week that the Bruins are likely to try.
— Lappano sounded more displeased with the offense after watching the film than he had been immediately after the game. “I don’t think anybody was pleased watching the film,” Lappano said. “We can play a lot better everywhere.”
— Asked why the offensive line struggled, Lappano said, “We weren’t as physical as we’d like to be. We want to get more push and maintain our blocks longer.”
— Lappano reiterated that he “wasn’t real happy” with what he said could fairly be called “four or five drops” in the game. Since almost all happened on third down, those drops cost UW a chance to prolong several possesions. “They probably cost us 10-12 plays, and nine for sure, and we can’t do that,” Lappano said.